


got a cannon ball in my stomach, got a desert in my mouth

by misura



Category: Iron Fist (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Ward Meachum, Hurt/Comfort, Past Torture, Snark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:55:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24107101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Danny saves Ward from some bad guys. It's pretty much the worst rescue ever (in Ward's humble opinion).
Relationships: Ward Meachum & Danny Rand
Comments: 13
Kudos: 24
Collections: Id Pro Quo 2020





	got a cannon ball in my stomach, got a desert in my mouth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sholio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/gifts).



Ward was not having a good day.

"Two weeks, Danny!" he said. He felt he might have done so before, at least five times during the past hour or so, but the point bore repeating. "I mean, seriously? Someone kidnaps your best friend and it takes you _two weeks_ to show up for a rescue?"

Danny mumbled something. He was carrying Ward, full princess-style. Ward would have felt embarrassed, except that two weeks of screaming and sobbing and begging for people to _stop hurting him_ seemed to have left him mostly immune to things like shame.

"What was that?" he asked. They were still up in the mountains, snow all around.

"It was actually closer to three," Danny said. "Three weeks."

Ward re-evaluated his ability to walk on his own and regretfully decided that killing Danny was not, at this point in time, a realistic plan, even if it would make him feel a lot better.

"They tortured me, they asked me questions in a language I don't speak and then they gave me drugs. Really great drugs," he added. "Which are wearing off."

Danny muttered something. It had sounded a bit like 'pity', but Ward knew who of them was the whiny fuck-up in this partnership, and it wasn't Danny.

"Where are we going, anyway? I mean, I'm assuming we're going somewhere and you're not just randomly wandering around."

"I'm looking for a cabin or something. Shelter," Danny clarified.

"So we're lost." Ward closed his eyes. "You got us lost. Wow. Just ... wow."

Ward dozed off for a bit, or passed out, whatever, and by the time he checked in with the real world again, Danny'd actually found a snug little cabin, with a fire and food and everything.

"Hey," he said. "I think you should try to drink some water. And there's soup."

If Danny thought some water and soup were going to make up for anything, he had another think coming. On the other hand, Ward figured that yeah, water and food would probably be good.

Danny held the cup to his lips, like Ward was some sort of invalid ( _torture victim_ , Ward reminded himself, though the memories seemed to have gone all hazy).

Ward swallowed and let Danny feed him some soup, until Danny decided he'd had enough - or maybe there wasn't any more soup, and then he said, "So what took you so long?"

"It's complicated," Danny said.

"Uh-huh."

"These guys, what they're trying to do." Danny gestured with an empty soup bowl.

"What they tried to do was make me give them information," Ward said pointedly.

"I'm sorry," Danny said. "You're right. I should have come sooner. I'm sorry."

"Oh well, that makes everything better, doesn't it?"

Danny frowned, and for a moment, Ward thought he'd gone and done it, but then Danny's expression softened again, like he really was going to let Ward talk to him like this without even making a fight out of it.

"I'm going to take another nap now," Ward said. "Don't wake me up." If the cabin caught fire or something, Danny'd simply have to deal with it by himself.

Everything had been Danny's fault, of course. He and Ward had been investigating some story about a village of women who turned into cranes or something, only it turned out that was just a cover for some vague mystic bullshit - or maybe not; Danny'd explained the whole thing to him, only Ward hadn't understood one word in ten out of it, other than that maybe there was a dragon involved (but maybe not, so that was helpful, good information to have).

Some shit had gone down, and Ward had told Danny, _Go, I'll be fine,_ and Danny had shaken his head, like he still didn't trust Ward, which Ward felt might be fair, except that it was also a sucky attitude for Danny to have, so. So Ward had said, _Fuck's sake, I can handle this, all right? Trust me,_ which had been the magical phrase, apparently, because Danny'd gone.

For the first few hours or so, Ward had felt pretty good about that. Sure, he'd gotten himself captured, but Danny'd be back for him, and that would be that.

The whole torture bit had come as a bit of a rude surprise. Ward hadn't signed up for getting tortured, and he definitely hadn't signed up to get drugged.

He woke up cold and hungry and thirsty and hurting all over. One or two out of those, Ward could have handled; getting hit with all of them at once felt like overkill. (He also really, really wanted another dose of that drugs they'd given him, but he wasn't going to think about that. He was clean. He'd been clean for months. Besides, the only person around to ask for drugs was Danny, and Danny wouldn't give him any, assuming Danny'd even be able to find some.)

"Feeling better?" Danny asked. He looked worried.

He _sounded_ like an idiot. "Do I look like I'm feeling better?"

"I'm sorry," Danny said, as if everything would be all right if he just kept on saying that.

"Is there anything to drink? Water," Ward added, on the off-chance Danny'd misunderstand.

"Yeah. Of course." Ward felt like he was letting Danny get away with something by permitting Danny to help him drink - water at first, then some more soup. He was exhausted, after, and still cold and hurting, like he needed to work his way down a list, and he'd only checked the boxes for 'hungry' and ' thirsty'. "I've been working out where we are," Danny said, as if this should cheer Ward up.

"Good," Ward said. "That's great, Danny."

Danny ducked his head a bit. "There's another blanket, if you want one."

Ward did want, but he also wasn't stupid and he had eyes. "You think giving me your blanket is going to make up for what happened?"

"No," Danny said, which Ward figured was the one thing he couldn't refute or bitch about.

Even with two blankets, it was still cold. Ward didn't want to think about how Danny was feeling, except that once he started, he couldn't seem to stop.

"Danny?"

"I'm here, Ward." Danny's tone suggested this was meant to be reassuring or soothing in some way.

"I only wanted to check if you were awake," Ward said.

"I'm awake," Danny said.

Ward refused to ask whether Danny was too cold to fall asleep. "Okay."

"You want some more water?"

Ward wanted to go back to feeling like nothing hurt and everything was fine. "I saw you. When they - I had a hallucination about you being there."

"I tried," Danny said. "It didn't work."

"Three weeks. You suck as a friend, do you know that. I mean, _I_ could have set up a rescue in three weeks. You're supposed to be better than that."

"I'm sorry."

"Not as sorry as I am, you're not," Ward said, wondering why he'd never come up with that reply before.

Danny said nothing. Maybe he was wondering the same thing. Or maybe he was wondering why he'd even bothered rescuing Ward at all. That was a cheerful thought.

"Danny?"

Still nothing. Ward was beginning to get a little annoyed.

"I'm still cold." One week of being drugged, and he'd felt _great_. He'd never feel that way again, probably. He'd spend the rest of his life feeling hurt and cold and thirsty and hungry.

"There's something we used to do in K'un-L'un. A secret technique to - want me to give it a try?"

Ward did not see how some mystical mumbo jumbo or meditation exercise or something was going to help, but he figured Danny was trying, and Ward ought to be a sport about it, so he said, "Sure, why not," and next thing he knew, someone (Danny, obviously) was pulling at his blankets and then there was something warm and living wrapped around him.

The worst thing was: it did make him feel better. Less cold, anyway.

"Your secret technique is hugging me?"

"Me and Davos used to sleep like this sometimes," Danny said.

Ward did not particularly want to hear more stories about Danny and Davos's epic friendship.

"All right?" Danny asked, like the answer to this question was of vital importance somehow.

"I suppose it makes sense to share," Ward said.


End file.
